Congressman Dusty Johnson’s Weekly Column: Return to Sender: Common Sense

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Return to Sender: Common Sense
By Rep. Dusty Johnson
January 16, 2065

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is not meeting the needs of South Dakotans. I hear almost every day about a lost package, delayed mail resulting in late fees, medication delays, and the questionable routing of mail. USPS delivery times continue to get worse, and it’s having a real impact on individuals and businesses. The data shows USPS service performance data has trended downward in every measurable category for every type of postage for the last four years.

At the end of December, I surveyed South Dakotans about their Postal Service experiences. I received more than 4,200 responses. More than 50% of these folks said their service is poor or very poor. More than 3,000 people shared their stories of difficulties with the Postal Service.

I heard from folks like Susan from Faulkton who incurred a $2,700 late fee because her check took 25 days to get to Sioux Falls. There’s a business in Bath whose customers often don’t receive their checks or get them two months late. And some people like Mary bought Christmas presents early, only to have them travel to nine different states before being delivered to Huron – 10 days late, and after Christmas.

Mary’s package delivery route

I held a roundtable in Sioux Falls to allow constituents to share their USPS story. I was joined by my colleague, Congressman Pete Sessions who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees the U.S. Postal Service, so he could hear directly from South Dakotans.

During the roundtable, we heard about how the unreliable delivery of mail is delaying critical medications, messages between family and friends, and is costing our small businesses money. In Sioux Falls, the closing of several retail counters has caused even longer lines and worsened the customer experience.

Following these discussions, it’s clear the issue with the Postal Service is often not with the individual carriers who deliver the mail. The issue is mostly with the Postal Service leadership whose decisions have decreased the quality of service the USPS provides in South Dakota.

I’m grateful to all who shared their stories with me. While the U.S. Postal Service was unable to attend the roundtable, I’ll be sending them a full report displaying the impact of their service decisions in South Dakota.

Johnson listens to Postal Service concerns during roundtable in Sioux Falls

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15 thoughts on “Congressman Dusty Johnson’s Weekly Column: Return to Sender: Common Sense”

    1. probably has nothing to do with it. One thing I have noticed when sending parcels through the USPS is that some post offices show you a screen asking you to verify that they have entered the recipient’s address and zip code correctly.
      Other post offices aren’t that fancy. They slap the label they just printed on the parcel and toss it in a bin. If you, as the sender, don’t read it, how do you know it is correct?
      Does the software in use at the USPS catch the error if the address and zip code don’t match? Or does the label maker just print whatever the clerk has typed in?

      1. Major Operational Changes
        1. Cost-cutting measures that slowed delivery:
        Early on, DeJoy ordered bans on overtime and extra trips and insisted trucks leave on fixed schedules even if mail wasn’t ready. That by design left mail behind and contributed to worse delivery performance — confirmed by government oversight and reporting. 
        2. Reassignment of senior leaders:
        Shortly after taking over in mid-2020, he reassigned or displaced dozens of senior USPS officials, shifting control to his chosen leadership. 
        3. Equipment and facility changes:
        The Postal Service removed and decommissioned hundreds of high-speed mail-sorting machines and took collection boxes out of service — moves officially tied to volume drops but widely criticized as harmful to service levels. 
        4. Network restructuring and modernization push:
        Under his Delivering for America plan, USPS built new processing hubs, consolidated operations into “mega-centers,” and changed how it transports mail and packages — efforts billed as modernizing the system but also linked with slower local deliveries as mail sits longer in centralized facilities. 

        Financial and Workforce Actions
        5. Headquarters cuts and workforce reduction:
        DeJoy cut about 20 % of USPS headquarters staff early in his tenure and later planned further reductions, including a recent move to eliminate ~10,000 jobs through voluntary retirements as part of ongoing reforms. 
        6. Cost savings through transport changes:
        He shifted more mail from air to ground transport, renegotiated vendor contracts, and opened new logistics centers — all boosting reported savings (billions annually) but at the expense of service predictability in many areas. 
        7. Financial performance adjustments:
        USPS reported a profit during the busy season of 2024, which DeJoy pointed to as evidence his reforms were working — though critics noted this came alongside hiring freezes, low pay increases, and other cost suppressions. 

        Vehicles and Fleet Controversy
        8. Fleet procurement decisions:
        DeJoy’s USPS awarded massive vehicle contracts that initially favored gasoline-powered delivery trucks — a choice that drew bipartisan environmental and operational criticism — though later orders shifted to more electric models as federal funding became available. 

        Controversy and Political Fallout
        9. 2020 election mail turmoil:
        His early operational directives coincided with the presidential election cycle and triggered outcry and formal investigations, with watchdogs and lawmakers saying the changes slowed mail delivery and made USPS performance worse. 
        10. Political and public backlash:
        DeJoy became a polarizing figure — widely criticized by Democrats, postal unions, and some watchdogs for undermining service, and defended by some Republicans as making hard but necessary changes. Oversight hearings and media scrutiny were constant. 

        Departure and Legacy
        11. Resignation in 2025:
        After nearly five years, DeJoy resigned under pressure amid ongoing debates about USPS’s future, even as the agency entered new partnerships (such as with the so-called DOGE government reform group) to pursue further efficiency reforms.

        Yeah…nothing to do with it.

      2. We have long heard about the downsizing and cost saving reorganizations of system that have instituted growing rings of compromised and reduced service to Americans for years now. Our national will was to establish and pay public dollars to have the most dependable public parcel and mail delivery on the planet. All DeJoy has done is degrade and destroy and shove cash flows to his and other private carriers n some kind of “triumph of free markets” or some such.
        It’s this kind of years-long slow motion train wreck, ignored until the first tiny clanks of the trains making contact, which has really disgusted us all. Politicians suddenly leaping to the fore to solve problems look like fools. The time to act was a decade ago.

          1. People will then complain about the cost. Because those are businesses and USPS is a service that should be properly funded.

  2. I did email Senator Rounds’ office about the problem of sending medications to veterans via USPS, and suggested they use a different carrier.
    If the Federal Employee Plan can use UPS, it seems changing carriers is the simplest approach to the problem.

    On Wednesday, at 12:31 pm, I received a phone call from the Department of Veterans Affairs, telling me my husband’s prescription would be sent out and we should receive it in 5-10 days. The caller didn’t say how it was getting here.
    It arrived today, delivered to our door by FedEx, at 3:10 PM.

    Just two days! See how easy this is?

  4. Dusty other examples, I sent 3 packages plus a cards on December 29th. The most expensive one was $12.00 with the card costing 1 stamp. All shipped from the Harrisburg post office.

    The package to Kimball and the card to North Platte, Ne were delivered on the 31st. The package to Pine Ridge on January 2nd, and to Maricopa, AZ arrived on, Saturday the 3rd.

    I was sent a package from Avondale, AZ on January 5th and it arrved in SF on the 7th.

    I paid for $29 for a box to be delivered by UPS which was shipped from Eugene, Oregon on 12/24/25 and I received it on 1/14/26.

    UPS and Fed Ex are twices as expensive for most packages. Letters will cost $24.95 for 1 day service but it is a 2 day guarantee with both companies. They have more “Acts of God” then God can think of.

    Can the USPS do better, sure they can, but so can politicians. We have been waiting for over 2 years for a new Farm Bill.

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